A scientist in the kitchen

Lemongrass is one of my favorite herbs and have been using it a lot on soups and roast chicken. I can’t believe I haven’t used it with pork barbecue until I read Katie’s Lemongrass Barbecued Pork recipe. Katie B., of Other People’s Food, is my partner for this month’s Taste and Create event - a brain child of Nichole from For the love of Food.

I used the same ingredients as the marinade but used pork belly instead of boneless pork loin. And instead of lime juice, I used kalamansi, the Philippine version of lime. The family is more partial to pork belly and we love to eat grilled pork belly every week. I love the aroma of lemongrass on the barbecue with each bite I took. I know I must do this again.

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Currently searching over a catalog of MP3 players… something I need for a new project coming up.

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Here is another Filipino dish I would like to share with you in this week’s Weekend Herb Blogging which Anna of Morsels and Musings is hosting this week. Sinugno is simply grilled tilapia after which it is wrapped in mustard leaves then cooked with coconut cream. Grilling adds a smokey flavor to the creamy coconut sauce and this combination goes great with rice.

I’m not much of a mustard leaves fan though, so I used instead, sweet potato leaves and malunggay leaves. And for that extra kick, I add a pinch of chili flakes (next time I’ll add more).

Sinugno

2 whole tilapia fish
1 inch ginger, crushed then chopped
1 1/2 cups coconut cream
1 tsp chili flakes
1 cup of sweet potato tops
1 cup of malunggay leaves
salt to taste

Salt the tilapia fish then grill. When done, put in a pan. Add the ginger on top of the fish. Pour coconut cream and sprinkle with chili flakes. Bring to a boil and simmer till sauce has reduced to half. Add the vegetables then simmer till the leaves are cooked. Season with salt. This is now ready to serve.

Note: I realize that not everyone uses whole tilapia fish, tilapia fillet would also work well. Tilapia tastes great with coconut!

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This dish is essentially the same as my inihaw na tilapia, so this can be called inihaw na bangus (milkfish in Tagalog). I used the same stuffing and wrapping with banana leaves. If you noticed, the banana leaves I used are really shiny. Before using banana leaves for cooking, it is passed over flame to melt the banana wax and gives the shiny finish. This also makes the banana leaves more pliable for wrapping the fish.

The difference lies in the preparation of the fish. Milkfish are really bony, with a lot of tiny bones interspersed with the flesh. The fish is sliced from the back exposing the whole cavity. I ask the fishmonger to remove all entrails and debone the fish for me, removing the main trunk and other bones visible. At home, prior to stuffing, I still try to remove as much bones as I can. I spread the stuffing all over the exposed cavity and close it again before wrapping with banana leaves. Grilling takes longer, my measure for doneness is that the third layer of banana leaves is all so burnt. Part of the skin is burnt as well but it still tastes good with a smoky flavor.

What I do like about milkfish is the layer of fat in the cavity that is really melts in the mouth. It more than makes up for the fishbones!

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I’ve started a blogging event called “To market, to market…“. Hope to see you there!

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Tomatoes, onions and ginger are staples in the Filipino kitchen. For this week’s Weekend Herb Blogging (hosted this week by Rinku of Cooking in Westchester), I’m using these three ingredients to create succulent steamed tilapia steamed in banana leaves.

This is my favorite way to prepare fish. It’s actually more of broiling-steaming method as you wrap the fish with banana leaves then broil it. As the banana leaves burn, the fish is steamed such that the fish is done when the banana leaves have burned.

Prepare the stuffing. I usually use a combination of ginger, tomatoes, onions and salt.

Stuff the fish with a mixtue of ginger, tomatoes, onions and salt.

Wrap the the fish with 2-3 layers of banana leaves. Grill. Grill each side till first two layers of banana leaves are burnt.

Carefully peel away the banana leaves.

Here’s your tilapia steamed in banana leaves. Note that the skin is not burnt. The stuffing are also well cooked. To enhance the taste, I usually make a dipping sauce of fresh chili and fish sauce. This dish goes well with kamote tops salad.

So far, I use the same stuffing for other kinds of fish. Next time, I will use cilantro for stuffing like Jaden did.

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Whenever I want a simple and homey grilled chicken, I usually just marinate chicken meat in soy sauce, crushed pepper and garlic. Filipino food usually use a lot soy sauce in the dish, to add salt or color. It’s all according to taste, I really don’t know the exact measurements. And just before grilling, I add the juice of one calamansi (Philippine lemon). It has never failed to satisfy my craving and have always impressed my foreign friends whenever they visit at home. Dippings? Just a combination of soysauce, lemons and chopped chilis will do.

It’s as homey as it can get, we have what we call a “dirty kitchen”. Most Filipino homes you would find a kitchen within the house where you have a gas stove or an electric one. And outside is the old-fashioned way cooking where one uses firewood to boil away meats to perfection. It is usually sooty and smoky with the smoke from the wood-fired stove. For grilling? We use dried coconut husks which easily turns to coal which is perfect for grilling. One can use metal griller to put the meats or since I live in a farm, cut off a few branches of Madre de Cacao (Gliricidia) and put on top of the coal. That’s your griller!

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